Rising Tides
by Moirae Ma'at
Summary: Kyoko's fate is intertwined with that of Ren and Sho as the world of entertainment notices the rising tide that will either sweep her away or raise her to stardom. Ren x Kyoko.
1. Chapter 1: Out Shopping

**Summary:** Kyoko's fate is intertwined with that of Ren and Sho as the world of entertainment notices the rising tide that will either sweep her away or raise her to stardom. Ren x Kyoko.

**Warnings:** Het, movies, lyrics, songs, theatrical death, theatrical gore, and violence.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Skip Beat or any of the affiliated people, objects, songs, movies, or inventions. They are being used here for non-profit purposes and purely for fun. I **DO **own all of the song lyrics used in the PVs of this story as I originally wrote them as poetry. Do NOT use them without permission.

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_**Rising Tides**_

_**By Moirae Ma'at**_

==o0o==

**Chapter 1: Out Shopping**

This was it; if he didn't find the demons for the band's song today, he was going to have to use the psychotic punks that had showed up to the audition last week. They really weren't very good actors and they were the wrong sort of demon for the image the band wanted to portray. Those ruffians – he was sure they were in a gang – would make everyone think that his band was a group of useless hooligans! Takahiro refused to let that happen after all the work he had put in over the past year to bring _Devil's Dance_ to the public's attention.

They were a completely different sound from that fake-punk Fuwa Sho and they needed their debut PV to reflect that. It was a pity they had never found the right couple to do "Devil's Dance" as a PV, although the band sincerely wanted their first single and their name-sake song to be their first PV as well.

The manager was so absorbed in his thoughts that he wasn't watching where he was going and bumped into someone. Stepping back and giving a quick half-bow couples with a low "pardon me," Takahiro looked up to find a pair of dark, cold eyes glaring murderously at him from under pitch black hair.

Automatically stepping to the side in order to leave the darker male's line of sight, the manager watched in shock as the other male swept by him in a flutter of black clothing, shepherding an attractive, punk-looking blond girl along with him. They were perfect!

When Takahiro's mind restarted, he hurried after the couple, managing to catch up to them just as they were about to enter a clothing store. The manager slipped in front of the couple, cringing at the glare leveled at him from the tall, dark man.

"I'm Takahiro Juuji, manager for _Devil's Dance_. I was wondering if I could talk to you about appearing in a PV," the frightened man managed to press out with a bow, extending his card with one hand.

The other male just glared at him, reaching out an arm to brush him aside, when the girl next to him latched onto his extended arm and began to speak.

"Nii-chan, it sounds like fun! Don't you think that it's appropriate, considering what we're here for? It'd be no fun to just leave," the slighter figure said as she pouted and cuddled her brother's arm. Setsu wanted to see more of her big brother's expressions and any opportunity to do so was welcome! Besides, Cain had bought her a CD player so she'd have something to do on set and she liked the accompanying CD by _Devil's Dance_ – it was just her style!

The dark man looked down at the girl at his side and a wry little smirk appeared on his face before he looked over at Takahiro and shrugged nonchalantly. Cain knew what his little sister was up to, but hey, he really couldn't say no to her anyway. Besides, Ren was pretty sure that the PV would require close contact between the two of them and that was always a plus in his book.

"Then if you'd please follow me to our building, it's right this way," the manager said as he guided the two punks toward the recording studio. He was pleased that he'd found the right type of people, but exceedingly nervous about turning his back to the male – it felt like the guy wouldn't even give a second thought to killing him.

Takahiro lead the two punks into the music building and guided them towards the studio his band was warming up in. they entered the open room and the band got their first look at the girl their manager had recruited. Both guitarists fumbled their strings and the drummer dropped one of his drumsticks before all five band members noticed the dark figure lurking behind the hot blonde.

_Devil's Dance_ slowly set down their instruments and approached their manager when he motioned for them to come meet the two newcomers.

"These are the two people who will be playing the demons in your PV," the manager informed his stars, stepping back and watching as all five musicians gave shallow bows and introduced themselves.

"I'm Setsuka Heel and this is my brother Cain," the punk-looking girl said as she casually leaned on her brother's arm, both siblings looking nonchalant at the introduction to a famous band.

"Well, the song you'll be acting in is called 'Demons in my Head' –" Takahiro began.

"I like that song, it's pretty good," Setsu interrupted carelessly.

"Thanks," the drummer said with a slightly suggestive smile, only to back away at the dark look sent his way from Cain. The guy made a mental marker not to talk to Setsu just to make sure the dark male behind her would have no reason to have a "talk" with him. He wasn't going to cross the guy who looked like a serial killer, no siree! He'd rather make more music than end up dead in a ditch somewhere, so it really wasn't even a hard decision not to flirt with Setsu, even if she was exceptionally hot.

Takahiro gave a scolding look at his band – they were not going to lose these two and force him into using those try-out idiots – and continued, "If you both would go into the dressing rooms and change –"

"Nii-san's not going to change, but I'll try whatever you've got for me," Setsu calmly interrupted the manager once again. Kyoko was bowing repeatedly inside at her rude behavior, but there was no way that she could allow Cain Heel to be revealed as Tsuruga-san. If she had to be rude to prevent that, then Setsu would be as rude as she needed to be. Besides, Setsu wouldn't want to inconvenience her brother with changing after she had dragged him into participating in the PV in the first place, so Kyoko was still in character as well.

Takahiro gave a tight smile to the girl, annoyed at the way she kept interrupting him, but nonetheless escorted Setsu backstage towards the costume and makeup department, Cain following along behind them due to the tight grip his sister had on his arm. Kyoko was not going anywhere with these strangers without Ren, just incase they turned out to be similar to the Beagle in any way, and Setsuka would want her brother with her at all times.

The costume designer met them halfway there and began to babble at Setsuka.

"We don't want to change your make-up or your hair – they're perfect for this – but we would like you to change into this outfit," the perky brunette said as she held up a bloody red bustier and a short black skirt. "Your boots are already in there, so why don't you go change while I find you some jewelry?"

Setsu nodded nonchalantly and grabbed the two articles of clothing before slipping into the nearby room to change.

Kyoko slipped on the small black skirt and the tall high-heeled boots before trying to lace-up the small bustier she had been given to change into. The blonde twisted this way and that attempting to tighten the strings of her shirt but failed to get the lacings tight enough to keep the corset up. She couldn't think of any way to lace up the bustier other than asking someone for help, but there was no way she was going to ask some random member of the crew to come into the room and touch her bare back. She'd rather ask Tsuruga-san to do it than someone else, because at least she knew him, even if it would be exceedingly embarrassing. Kyoko debated it in her mind for a couple of minutes before blushing and forcefully switching into Setsuka in order to call out for her brother.

Cain lounged outside the door to her dressing room, obviously intending to stay there and wait for her to finish changing, but ended up entering the room when Setsu asked for him through the door. Her brother entered the small room and was immediately shocked back into Ren at the sight of Kyoko's almost bare back, as the strings of the bustier delicately crossing the white skin didn't really provide any cover. The skirt almost reached the middle of her thighs, but the fact that it was slit on the right side almost up to her hip discounted the coverage it appeared to give Setsu. Ren really didn't want anyone else seeing Kyoko with that much skin showing, although the Emperor of the Night was very appreciative about seeing so much bare skin and wanted to thank Kyoko for the view. The dark-haired actor was shocked out of his approaching seductive mode as Setsu's words finally penetrated his mind.

"Nii-san? Nii-san, are you listening to me? Beloved big brother, would you tighten this for me? Onegai? I can't reach it," Setsu almost whined, upset her brother had been ignoring her, although Kyoko was mentally blushing in embarrassment at having to ask her senpai to lace up the back of her corset. It was highly improper to ask Tsuruga-san to lace up a bustier for her, although it would be nothing between two siblings like Setsuka and Cain. In fact, Setsu would probably like it. Kyoko, on the other hand felt awkward asking the question, even if she had been getting better at accepting casual contact between them without becoming embarrassed – especially after that shower fiasco – but nonetheless she was still nervous about him lacing up her corset.

Setsu stood there, shifting her weight impatiently as she held up the front of the bustier to her chest and waited for her brother to secure the shirt. The punk blonde felt her brother's hands softly brush her skin as they grabbed the strings used to tighten her top and gently pulled them taunt before tying off the black ribbons at the bottom of her spine.

Ren liked the small touches that had allowed him to feel Kyoko's skin – it was so soft – and had to pull himself away from adjusting the bustier further in order to feel more of her skin because Cain wouldn't do that, Cain wouldn't look at his sister like a lover. The black ribbons looked beautiful against her skin, but he couldn't touch her like he wanted, he could only look at her like a brother looks at a sister. It was quite a pity he couldn't spend more time in contact with her, but he'd make sure he was the only one who had that pleasure. There would be no way Ren would let anyone else touch her in this shoot and Cain's dark glare should discourage all comers. If anyone was going to touch Setsuka, it would be Cain and no one else.

Setsu turned around and smiled at her brother, thanking him for helping her and latching tightly onto his arm as they left the room. The blonde didn't even notice the way that people all around the room stopped in their tracks and stared the moment they saw her. The director's sharp reprimand and Cain's demonic glare got everyone moving again, although some brave souls kept their eyes on Setsu while they were walking and ran into various parts of the set. Setsu didn't even notice the commotion, all of her attention wrapped up in her beloved big brother.

The bubbly brunette from before met the two and draped a complicated set of glimmering silver and black chains around Setsu's neck before dragging her over to a make up chair to put the rest of the jewelry on the blonde. The brunette began to fit a complicated ear cuff to Setsuka as a guy came over and showed the girl several tattoos.

When the punk girl pointed out a tribal looking design that went well with her outfit, the other girl slipped a malicious looking black and red bracelet on Setsuka's right wrist before sliding the attached ring onto her middle finger. The chains from the bracelet shifted as the blonde girl moved the ring from her middle finger onto her ring finger, preferring the way that the bracelet and matching ring looked there.

The staff member with the temporary tattoos applied the one that the female Heel sibling had chosen around the bicep on her left arm as the brunette added a small silver anklet with looping chains and dangling red stones over Setsuka's left boot. Once the girl's tattoo was drying, the man cautiously moved towards her scary brother and began to talk to him.

"Heel-san, if you'd wear this we'd greatly appreciate it," the male with the temporary tattoos said as he pointed out a small design intended to travel across Cain's forehead before curving around the older sibling's eye to trail down his cheekbone. It was similar to the one Setsu had on her upper arm, but slightly more masculine in design.

The male Heel shrugged apathetically in response and Setsuka immediately appeared at her brother's side, the harried brunette girl still trying to loop a silver chain belt around the blonde's waist.

"I'm the only one who gets to touch Nii-san's face!" Setsuka said with a pout as she swiped the tattoo from the man and proceeded to apply it to her brother's face. Kyoko couldn't afford someone getting too close to Tsuruga-san and recognizing him, so it was up to her to do any makeup that her senpai needed.

The blonde's touch was gentle on her brother's face as she carefully laid down the tattoo and made sure it transferred correctly, using a black makeup pen from the PV's staff to touch up parts of the design. Ren had leaned down so she could reach and had to restrain himself from looking anywhere that wasn't Kyoko's face. Thankfully, she finished quickly and he didn't have too much time to think about the cute way her lips pursed in concentration.

Setsu carelessly tossed the black pen towards the makeup crew and once more attached herself to her brother's side as they moved towards the set, the punk blonde drawing unknowingly drawing attention with every move she made.

Takahiro met the two siblings as they were leaving the backstage area, making sure to keep his eyes away from Cain's sister after a cursory inspection of her costume. She was exactly what they were looking for and her creepy big brother would add that needed edge of danger to their music video. After all, the song wasn't exactly light and fluffy, and he wasn't sure how evil Setsuka could look, despite the dangerously sexy way she looked and walked. Just because she was darkly alluring didn't mean that she could look evil enough to purposely haunt people into insanity.

The manager carefully guided the Cain and Setsuka over towards a tall, thin man with long white hair before introducing the three to each other.

"Tezuka-san, these are our two demons, the Heel siblings; Cain-san, Setsuka-san, this is our director Tezuka-san," the manager said before leaving to attend to his wayward band.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both; I hope we'll work well together. I'm sorry, but you'll have to excuse me, there's a situation over there that I need to take care of," Tezuka said with a polite smile, using the first excuse he could think of to get away from the other dark-haired male that was glaring at him and looked like he wanted to murder the PV director.

Cain wrapped his hands around his sister's shoulders and she leaned back into her brother, Kyoko completely unconscious of the way it made them look like lovers rather than siblings. She thought it was nice the way Tsuruga-san was keeping her warm by wrapping his arms around her shoulders, as the bustier didn't cover her shoulders and she was beginning to get goose bumps from the temperature on set. Ren, on the other hand, had a completely different motive and barely managed to hide his smirk at the way several men turned around once they spotted the way the two were standing, obviously not willing to risk the Cain's wrath in order to talk to the pretty girl relaxing in his arms.

A few minutes later the director returned and began to lay out the plot of the promotional video.

"You two are demons that are haunting the _Devil's Dance_ at the club they're performing in, so if you two would lean against that building to start with, then Setsuka-san will…" the director began to say before he trailed off at Cain's evil glare.

"I'm sure we'll be fine, director," the female Heel sibling said casually as she exchanged a look with her brother, seeming to simultaneously scold and hold a conversation with the older male.

Tezuka nodded his consent, more due to his fear of her creepy brother than out of agreement with her, but she took it as agreement anyway. The two siblings situated themselves on the set and simply waited until the director had the extras arranged to his satisfaction and started filming, telling the camera to focus on the brother for the first stanza of the song before switching to the sister.

"_Look outside, / There's something in the dark, / Staring back, / Menace in mind. / Take that dare, / Ruin the world with a smile."_

The darker of the two siblings leaned against a shadowy building casually, and pulled out a cigarette as his eyes traveled around the set before concentrating on Setsuka as she sexily sauntered towards the entrance of the on-set club. She was walking to the beat of the song and unknowingly drawing the eyes of the men both in and out of the video to her body in the process. He didn't like other people looking at his sister, but they'd get the message by the end of the video, Cain thought with a vicious smirk. The camera focused on the expression, carefully capturing the malicious twist of his lips and the cruel glint in his black eyes.

"_Play the horns that trumpet death, / Pound the drums that summon war, / Raze the world down to the ground. / Lure them in, make sure it never ends."_

The male Heel casually struck a match and used it to light his cigarette before pushing off the wall and walking forward, his feat hitting the heavy beats of the song. Cain carelessly tossed the still burning match behind him, lighting the building on fire as he followed his sister. The growing fire cast eerie shadows around his form as he moved, his long coat flaring with every stride and serving as a startling counterpoint to the light flaring behind him.

Setsuka turned slightly when she reached the club, almost seeming to pose in the doorway, but actually checking that her brother hadn't done something evil – the fire wasn't a big deal – before smirking at her brother and going inside. Cain followed her easily, the majority of the people on the street subconsciously moving away from him and simultaneously managing to follow his sister into the club.

"And cut!" the director said before quickly sending people to put out the fire and hustle the extras into the fake club so he could give them a short list of instructions. Tezuka made sure to avoid giving the Heel siblings any directions, as they'd done something on their own that even better than his idea for the beginning of the PV – and that had been without any instructions at all.

Tezuka reminded his camera men to focus on Setsu for most of the time, but not to ignore the band that was going to be playing on stage for his part of the PV. After all, the video was intended to promote the band and should focus on them, not just the story they were trying to tell with their music.

"_These demons in my head, / They'll dance until I'm dead. / Eyes as black as night, / They make all my fears take flight."_

The camera focused on the way Setsu moved to the music, before zooming out to show the way that a couple of the band members looked over at her and seemed to appreciate the view. She didn't see their glances, as most of the blonde's concentration was focused on avoiding the grasping hands of the extras around her. Kyoko didn't want these strangers grabbing her – it wasn't proper! – and she didn't know them, so they shouldn't be even trying to touch her.

Setsu was dancing nearly in the center of club's floor by the time that her brother entered the club and settled on a wall near where she was dancing. Setsuka seemed to ignore the new man in order to dance for a while and her brother calmly smoked in his corner, girls congregating close to him due to his looks. Kyoko had to forcefully block out the fact that people – especially Tsuruga-senpai – were watching her dance in order to keep dancing, eventually resorting to encouraging Setsu's enjoyment of the fact that her brother was watching her dance to keep moving.

Suddenly the two siblings looked at the band on stage at the same time and gave evil smiles before returning to their previous activities. The camera made sure to catch the matching smiles before once more focusing on Setsu's dancing and leaving Cain in the background. The girl kept a cold but somehow inviting smile on her face as she danced, people crowding further and further around her.

The band member's eyes met Cain's and they visibly flinched away from him as they played their instruments before suddenly becoming more aggressive in their playing, as if they were challenging the dark male leaning against the wall with their music.

"_They infiltrate the world, / Fake smiles pasted on their faces, / Masks up, / Find the beat and dance, / Seduce them and steal their soul."_

Abruptly Cain moved away from the wall and began to move forward through the crowd, a small smirk on his face as he slipped up behind his sister. He wrapped his arms around her waist and the camera focused on the way she relaxed into his hold instead of moving away from him as she had with the other men who tried to touch her.

"_These demons in my head, / They'll dance until I'm dead. / Eyes as black as night, / They make all my fears take flight."_

They danced together, Kyoko mentally embarrassed at how close she was to Tsuruga-san and Ren enjoying the extended close contact with his love interest. The blonde once more managed to suppress her blush and push Setsuka forward. The punk girl reached back and looped her tattooed arm over her brother's neck as she pressed closer to him, happy to have her brother so near her.

In return, Ren pulled her closer and shifted his one of his hands to her hip before letting the other splay high up across her stomach, the tips of his fingers stopping just short of her chest. Cain buried his smile in her neck, covering it from the camera with her hair. He wasn't going to let his sister win their little contest, and Ren just wanted an excuse to stake his claim when all of the men on set had been looking too closely at Kyoko in her revealing clothes.

Cain and Setsu stayed close to each other and locked their eyes on the musicians at the front of the club as they kept dancing to the beat. Their bodies moved in perfect sync with each other as they focused on the band members, who slowly noticed the eyes concentrating on them and looked up to face them.

"_I can do anything / When they watch me, / No fears, no doubts, / Take 'em down, / Shake 'em down, / I'm gonna rule the world."_

The camera panned out until it was possible to see both the dancing siblings and the band playing onstage, the music slowly rising to a crescendo as the musicians became more and more aggressive in their actions. The two Heel siblings kept their eyes on the band and the musicians stared back at them as they played faster and louder every second until they hit a sharp pause and the lead singer spoke the last line with an ironic smile.

"_I've got demons in my head."_

As the last line sounded out over the crowd, the siblings looked right up at one of the cameras from the middle of the dance floor and gave two slow smiles fill with malice, their eyes a startling contrast of fiery amber and black death. For a single moment the girl's orbs almost completely reflected her brother's black eyes, all the way down the dark color and the malevolent spark of cruelty.

The scene sent shivers down the backs of the crew and the band; the expression on their faces were so malicious that you could almost believe that the two really were demons. Tezuka wouldn't even need to use computer effects to turn the girl's eyes black for the last scene, which was really what scared the director. It wasn't normal for people's eyes to suddenly turn black, no matter how good they were at acting…

It took Tezuka a little bit to shake off the intimidating aura the two had produced and stop the filming. Takahiro had wanted something different from Fuwa's PV and he had definitely received it! The usual following for _Devil's Dance_ would love it because it was right down their alley and other people would watch it because of that girl. Her brother might be the scariest person on earth, but the girl was plain-out, dangerously sexy. A couple of the crew had almost ran into equipment and walls when she had first walked out in her costume, although the piercing glare from her brother had dissuaded most of the crew from approaching the blonde.

Meanwhile, the male members of the PV crew were thanking their lucky stars they had taken the male's earlier "warning" and stayed far away from the girl. She was sexy, but they weren't going to risk their necks in order to talk to her. They were pretty sure that the guy would have killed them for touching her, so it was safer to just avoid the beautiful girl. She hadn't seemed to have minded, doting on her brother and hanging off his arm when one of them wasn't filming for the music video. In addition, the look in her eyes after she saw her brother set fire to the building a the beginning of the PV and the smile at the end of the video gave them the idea that she might decide to kill them, so it was safer to just ignore the girl – no matter how alluring she looked.

Takahiro and Tezuka spent a few minutes reviewing the filming before coming over to talk to the two siblings, the two older males smiling from ear to ear at the high quality of the video.

"You both did a wonderful job," the director told the two Heels, being careful to look at the dark-haired male and not his attractive little sister. Setsuka looked amazing in her outfit – it was hard to image that she could look as evil as she did in the video – but her brother was scary enough to warn anyone way from hitting on, or even admiring, his little sister.

"Why don't you keep the outfit, Heel-san," Takahiro said with a friendly expression. "You did perfectly in the PV and the outfit seems like a fitting reward for all your hard work."

Cain's glare pierced the manager and the other man took a subtle step back as Setsu glomped onto her brother's arm.

"It's not bad," Setsu said with a smile as she leaned against her brother, Kyoko furiously apologizing in her head for Setsu's callous attitude about the gift. Kyoko thought she didn't deserve the expensive outfit for a simple PV, but Setsu really didn't care because the outfit wasn't a gift from her beloved big brother. That was Setsu's general opinion on everything: if it didn't come from Cain or have something to do with him, then she really didn't care about it.

Cain's eyes softened slightly as he looked down at his sister and began to lead her out of the building. Sadly, the two siblings were forced to pause at the door when it was flung open for Fuwa Sho to enter the studio. The blonde strutted into the room with his head held high, but Setsuka's flashy costume caught his eye and he paused to take the time to look the girl over from head to toe.

The singer's view was interrupted when a dark male stepped in front of the pretty girl and glared at him viciously, using his body to block any glimpse of Setsuka from view. Sho shrunk back slightly from the dangerous look and moved out of the doorway enough for the elder Heel sibling to usher his little sister through the door, the taller male's hand firmly placed in the middle of her back.

Fuwa simply stood there in shock, a little stunned that the punk girl in the black and red revealing costume had Kyoko's golden eyes. He'd gotten a quick glimpse of the female's face right after her costume had grabbed his attention, but the terrifying male escorting her had shocked him with the glare and the startling change between what looked like Kyoko's golden eyes and the male's evil black orbs had caused the singer to step back in reaction. The male was absolutely terrifying and Sho couldn't imagine why Kyoko was spending time with such a hooligan. In fact, she really shouldn't be hanging out with a guy like that, especially not if she was trying to catch up to him – not that he cared or anything, but if she was going to be spending time around a punk, he could to a lot more for her career than that no-name creep.

Once the singer had finally recovered from his shock and processed what had just happened, Sho quickly turned around and swiftly hurried out the door after the two siblings. He was disappointed to find that the girl with Kyoko's eyes and that guy had quite effectively disappeared from his sight and he was unable to locate them or even what path they might have taken. The singer eventually returned to the studio, a sulking expression that was obvious only to his manager present on his face.

Shouko gave a put upon sigh at her charge's actions and ushered the boy towards a more protected area so she could figure out what was wrong this time. She needed him in a good mood for his PV, so she needed to fix whatever was bothering him quickly. Sometimes she wasn't sure if her job was worth it or not; Sho could be such a brat…

==o0o==

AN: I hope you enjoyed the story so far and thank you for reading. This will probably be around 20 chapters (that's generally what I have planned out for this story) but some chapters might spill over or be combined, so no promises. Updates will be slow, as I'm quite busy right now and I have several other stories, but I keep track of story progress on my profile if you want to see when new chapters will be coming out. But hey, 5,200+ words in ten pages isn't a bad start, ne?


	2. Chapter 2: On Display

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_**Rising Tides**_

_**By Moirae Ma'at**_

==o0o==

**Chapter 2: On Display**

A few days later Sho was sulking on his couch instead of writing his new song and decided to turn on the television to alleviate his boredom. The singer flipped through several channels searching for something interesting to watch and flipped past a black blob before pausing on a random channel.

Wasn't that the guy who had been with Kyoko?

Sho went back to the channel with the punk in black on it and settled in to glare at him and make fun of his answers on the talk show. The guy didn't seem very nice and Kyoko shouldn't have been spending time with someone like that – even if it was for work. He'd been so distracted about what she was doing with such an obvious punk that Shoko had ended up postponing over half of his PV for the next day. It had put them a little behind schedule and his manager hadn't been happy about that, but his angry expression wouldn't work for this particular promotional video. They really didn't have much choice in the matter – it was his video and if he couldn't do his part right, then there was no point in doing the video to begin with.

In order to cheer him up, Shoko had even asked Director Asami to go and figure out what the girl had been doing on the set of the PV for _Devil's Dance_. His manager had returned to tell him that the two punks had been picked up off the street by the band's manager for their video, but the other band's director and manager had refused to divulge any more information about the girl with golden eyes and the male with black eyes, rightly suspicious of Sho's interest in the two punks. One of the stage hands let slip that the two were called Setsuka and Cain Heel, but clammed up tight when he realized what he had said and quickly made his excuses when he spotted Director Tezuka.

When Shoko returned from her fact-finding mission, she'd spent quite a bit of time talking to Sho and almost had him convinced that the girl hadn't been Kyoko – the different name and fashion style, the way she lad dangled on the male's arm – but the singer was stuck on the girl's golden eyes. He'd seen those eyes glaring up at him or looking at him adoringly too many times to ever forget them – although he'd never seen them looking at him with the same cool distain that the punk with pink-streaked hair had displayed so easily.

Well, whether or not it had been Kyoko, the dark-haired male who had glared at him was sprawled out in a chair, comfortably slouched with his legs casually spread wide and one of his arms tossed over the side of the single-person couch.

"So how do you like Japan?"

Fuwa saw the punk raise the hand hidden behind the couch and was shocked to see a lit cigarette in the other male's hand. The dark-haired guest took a slow drag before leaning back in his seat and ignoring the talk show host. Several people couldn't believe that this insignificant guy was blatantly smoking on Tatsura Misa's show – much less that the dark-eyed punk was completely ignoring the beautiful hostess.

"Has it been interesting?" Misa said with a tight smile.

Her only response was another long drag at the cigarette.

"I hear you recently did a promotional video for the visual kei group _Devil's Dance_…" the female tried again, hoping to get the punk to at least answer the trailing sentence even if he wouldn't answer questions.

The dark-haired male simply leaned forward and set one of his ankles across his knee so that he could stub out his cigarette against the heel of his black boots before dropping it on the floor. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes from somewhere on his person and pulled out a new stick before lifting it to his mouth and setting it on fire it with a discrete black lighter that was slipped right back into his pockets. Cain took a deep drag of his cigarette and leaned back again, smoothly dropping his ankle off his knee into the previous wide-legged position.

The hostess gave forced a smile in return to the male's rude actions and managed to get a sentence out from between her tightly clenched teeth.

"Maybe the girl you arrived with could give us a few answers?"

Cain glared sharply at the female in response and back in his apartment Sho leaned forward, curious to see if the aforementioned female was really Kyoko.

~.~.~.~

Setsu kept her casual pose against the wall when she heard the host's words, but Kyoko was inwardly flailing around in a panic that made Setsuka's calm all the more impressive. Cain's little sister wasn't at all surprised that her most important man had refused to answer any questions, but the amber-eyed talento didn't really think that inviting the Setsu onto the set would be an effective way to convince the elder Heel sibling to talk. She would probably make the situation worse because Cain was protective of her and the female Heel sibling in turn would just ignore everyone – including the host – in order to pay attention to her brother.

One of the female stage hands soon began to usher Setsuka towards the stage entrance, carefully stopping short of touching the younger Heel sibling at the harsh glare the punk gave her. Setsu eventually stalked on stage, her walk a beautiful exhibition of the power and grace usually found only in large predators. Several men simply stopped and stared at the girl, completely shocked at her punk clothes and her lithe form.

In direct opposition, the blonde only had eyes for her brother and ignored everyone else – the audience, the host, the camera men, the backstage hands – as she casually strolled across the floor and sat down on the arm of Cain's chair. Inside Setsu's mind Kyoko was in a dogeza, completely embarrassed about ignoring the host and appearing on live television in a small leather vest and matching short skirt. Setsu wore clothes Kyoko would never be comfortable in and acted in a way the talent never would, but it always embarrassed the amber-eyed girl when her characters were rude – even if they were supposed to be disrespectful towards authority like Setsu and Natsu.

Setsu smiled over at her brother – ignoring, or possibly not even hearing, the thump of falling bodies – and leaned sideways so she could support herself against his shoulder. The dark-haired male lifted the hand without the cigarette and wrapped it around her waist, the feel of his hand on her bare side casing Kyoko to shiver inside of Setsuka. The girl from Kyoto wasn't used to personal contact in front of others – Shotaro had certainly never been affectionate and neither had her mother – and Cain was touching her bare skin on national television.

Kyoko was relatively used to Tsuruga-san touching her due to her time acting as his sister, so she really didn't think much about contact between them anymore, but she still wasn't used to people seeing that contact. Yes, he had laced up her corset for her, but that had been in a private dressing room and he had been Setsuka's brother Cain at the time. They'd slept in the same bed together and she'd seen him in the shower fiasco, but it was quite a different matter to touch like that in front of millions of people. It was probably a good thing Setsu was in control currently, now that she thought about it, because Kyoko would be hiding behind the couch in embarrassment instead of casually sitting on the arm and leaning against her big brother.

The hostess of the show tried to ask the duo several questions, but Cain simply took another drag from his cigarette and Setsuka nonchalantly crossed her legs and closed her eyes. Kyoko mentally bowed to the hostess after every question in apology for not answering them, sorry for the rude behavior but proud that she was able to stay in character during this time period. The Heel siblings never really interacted with anyone else when both of them were present – unless they were shopping or filming the movie. If they did interact, Setsu was the one who would do the majority of the talking, but she could tell her brother didn't like the hostess and therefore refused to have anything to do with the woman. Setsuka worshipped her brother and there was no way she was going to interact with anyone he didn't like.

The duo's relaxed and uncaring poise contrasted greatly with the Misa's visibly mounting anger until the hostess finally decided to ignore the two Heel siblings and call in the next guest. The males had been hiding out in one of the private dressing rooms in order to avoid thier fans, so the brother and sister had no idea who the second set of guests were going to be.

Reino and the rest of Vie Ghoul were calmly announced by the hostess before the break started and the camera missed the way Cain's eyes narrowed and Setsuka tensed slightly. A couple of Kyoko's antennas immediately gravitated toward Tsuruga-san as they sensed his anger and the talento mentally shivered at the idea of encounter the Beagle again. The only good thing she could think of was that Tsuruga-san was there to protect her, even if he was acting as Cain Heel right now. But then again, Cain was a lot more dangerous than Tsuruga-san in general, so she should be fine as long as she made sure not to react to the singer's evil presence. If she kept a tight rein on her grudges and pushed Setsuka as far forward as possible, she just might be able to make it through the rest of the talk show without alerting Rieno that Setsuka was really Kyoko.

When the show once more restarted, Rieno walked onto the stage with his band behind him to find a set of black eyes glaring at him. The silver-haired man gave an almost imperceptible shiver at the venom in the glare and made a conscious decision to avoid annoying the other guest. That look had been worse than the one Tsuruga had sent him the last time they had met – and if Tsuruga had been a lion, then this guy was a feral wolf with an aura darker than Tsuruga's had ever been. When he'd looked at that guy the silver-haired male had seen guns and blood and glory intermingled with a fist impacting someone's face, a body lying at the feet of black boots, and cold black eyes staring down the barrel of a gun at him as the other male pulled the trigger. That was definitely enough to make Rieno desire to avoid the other male, so he made sure to avoid looking at the girl next to the monster in human skin as he sat in the middle of the couch while his bandmates tried to charm the hostess.

The long-haired blonde settled down next to the singer while Shiruzu – the dark-haired bassist with the weird bang that had previously made fun of Kyoko – spotted Setsuka and elbowed the keyboardist sitting next to him to get the other band member's attention. When his bandmate looked at him, Shizuru pointed at the punk-looking girl sitting on the arm of the other guest's chair and the two members of Vie Ghoul shifted their attention from the hostess to the hot punk sitting near them.

"Wanna come sit on my arm chair?" Shiruzu said as he leaned forward toward the other guests with a large smile.

The blonde simply looked down her nose at the bassist and scoffed lowly as the male next to her glared black death at the musician. The girl promptly turned her attention to the darkly-dressed male she came in with, who in turn lifted his cigarette to his lips and left it in his mouth as he stared at Vie Ghoul.

"It'll be a nice place for a girl like you," the bassist tried again, this time reaching out an arm to try and touch the hot girl that was only a few feet away. The black-eyed male casually tugged the girl into his lap with the arm he had on her waist in response and Setsuka absently lifted her legs over her brother's from her position in Cain's lap so she could get more comfortable. This position was even more awkward than having Tsuruga-san's hand on her bare hip, but it gave her more protection from the Beagle and it wasn't like Setsu hadn't been in closer contact with her brother before…

Shiruzu was so captivated by the long length of bare leg revealed as the blonde girl shifted positions that he barely moved his arm fast enough to avoid the lit cigarette that the smoker had intended to put out on his sleeve. Four of the band members looked shocked at the other male's actions although Rieno was still carefully looking away from both foreign punks.

Misa promptly interrupted the interaction with a few words and a forced smile, hoping to avoid a fight occurring on her stage. "Vie Ghoul, this is Setsuka and Cain Heel – they starred in the latest promotional video for _Devil's Dance_."

"Don't suppose you'd do our next PV then?" the keyboardist tried with a leering smile, hoping his luck would be better than Shiruzu's previous attempt.

All he got in return was Cain's arm sliding back around Setsu's waist and two matching, dead stares that sent shivers down his back and prompted him to look away from the two people in the armchair. That was obviously a no to doing the PV and Kiyora didn't exactly want to push his luck asking a second time after what had almost happed to Shiruzu earlier.

Setsuka relaxed in her brother's lap and leaned back against his shoulder, the movement baring even more of her smooth stomach and causing several eyes to hone in on the uncovered skin. Cain saw members of Vie Ghoul looking and reached out and flicked the ashes of his cigarette at them right before he stubbed out the cigarette on his lighter. The remainder of the stick was dropped by the side of the chair and Cain shifted his sister to his other side before reaching into his outfit and pulling out a switchblade that he promptly handed to his bored-looking sister. Setsuka flipped it open easily and began to use the tip of the sharp blade to clean her nails as her brother calmly lit up a new cigarette. The audience and everyone on stage simply gaped at the siblings, unable to believe just what they were doing.

"Heel-san recently played Actor X in the highly-publicized psychological thriller ?," Misa tried one final time in a last-ditch attempt to get her first two guests to actually say something before they left. The hostess really didn't have much say in the matter by now because the two siblings were either going to start a fight with Vie Ghoul – and probably win – or create more dead air on the show – something she couldn't afford anymore of in this episode.

Misa finally gave up and bid Cain and Setsuka a subtle goodbye. The elder sibling squeezed his sister's waist and she smoothly rose to her feet, simultaneously folding and hiding the switchblade as she stood in a move that had several people wondering where the blade had been hidden. As soon as her brother was on his feet, the blonde glomped tightly onto Cain's arm and looked glued to his side as they left the stage in an attempt to avoid any of the members of Vie Ghoul.

As soon as they were out of sight of the stage, Setsuka leaned even further into her brother as Kyoko sagged in relief at avoiding a catastrophe with Vie Ghoul. She had no doubt that Cain would have won any hypothetical confrontation, but still it would have been hard to stay under control as either Setsuka or Kyoko, so she was grateful that nothing extraordinary had happened on the talk show. The Heel siblings had been rude and completely absorbed in each other – which was normal for them – and Cain probably shouldn't have been smoking or pulled out a switchblade on national television. Come to think of it, Setsuka really shouldn't have cleaned her nails with her brother's knife either, but Cain indulgently finding something for his little sister to concentrate on beside the hostess – and incidentally giving Kyoko herself something to think about besides Vie Ghoul – was such a common thing in their sibling relationship that Setsuka hadn't even thought twice about using the switchblade to clean her nails. She could have always started carving on the armchair they were sitting on, but her brother had avoided permanently damaging the set, so she would do the same.

"Nii-san, we have to get going if we're going to catch our flight!" Setsuka said imploringly as she hung off her brother's arm and tried to tug him in the proper direction. It was her job to keep control of her brother – control being a relative term – and act as his protective charm, but it seemed like Ren had been more of a protective charm for Kyoko than the other way around for the past few hours.

Cain looked down at her indulgently and easily followed the soft tugs on his arm as the two siblings stalked out of the television studio, easily ignoring the people around them as the focused solely on each other as usual. Setsuka was commenting sharply and softly about the stupid persistence of the fake perky hostess and the even more obviously fake visual kei group Vie Ghoul. The female Heel sibling hadn't thought anyone could look more like a punk-pretender than Fuwa Sho, but the attitude and outfits displayed by the talk show band had been even more false than the stuck up blonde's had been. Part of the reason for the comments was to calm Cain down so he didn't go back on stage and beat Rieno bloody and the other was to distract herself from freaking out and breaking Setsuka's character before she was supposed to do so.

Well, acting as Setsu had certainly been quite the experience, Kyoko thought with a wry smile as they got in the car, but thank Kami that it was almost over. It wasn't that she hadn't like spending so much time with Tsuruga-senpai – quite the opposite – but mentally she was starting to think of Tsuruga-san as more and more of a friend and she was worried that her attitude was going to carry over to their interactions once her job as Setsuka was finished. She would never be so presumptuous as to assume that such a lowly talento as herself would be friends with the great Tsugua Ren, but spending so much time in close contact with Tsuruga-san was giving her delusions about their relationship…

==o0o==

**AN:** I sent PMs to my reviewers (if I could) and would like to thank you all for reading this. It's not a very long chapter this time (3200+ words), but it is an update!


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